Gertrud Goldschmidt (1912 - 1994)

Gertrud Goldschmidt

Gertrud Goldschmidt, full name Gertrud Louise Goldschmidt, also known by her pen name Gego, is a Venezuelan painter, architect and sculptor of German descent.

She graduated from the University of Stuttgart with a degree in engineering and architecture, and emigrated to Venezuela with the outbreak of World War II, settling in Caracas. Gertrud Goldschmidt was engaged in design and architectural commissions. And she began her artistic career in the 1950s, developing her own style of geometric abstraction, which became a symbol of artistic modernity in Venezuela.

Gego then began to create sculptures and wire mesh constructions, and was also active in kinetic art. In 1969, the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas exhibited her three-dimensional installation consisting of an extensive modular wire mesh that unfolds in the gallery space through the floor, walls and ceiling. Goldschmidt is best known for her geometric and kinetic sculptures made in the 1960s and 1970s.